Evaluation Question 5 - Audience Research

   

How we have changed the opening sequence in response to our audience feedback:  
Firstly, many people said that they liked the Spanish voice over as it was conventional of a thriller film to have the bad guy as someone foreign because its unusual and sounds menacing. However they did mention that the sub-titles were hard to read as they appear and disappear quite quickly. To amend this, we slowed down the sub-titles and changed the font to make it more professional and also easier to read. Secondly, two classmates mentioned about editing and how it was to jumpy or the filters needed to be changed so that it was all identical. We later edited it and all of the filters matched and flowed well. Thirdly, the storyline was quite confusing when they watched it as it went from 'good Hannah' to 'bad Hannah' almost instantly. So that the audience will get the storyline; we added a few scenes in-between where it shows quick but interesting shots of Hannah before she changes. We wanted them to be fast because we wanted to include an enigma code so that the audience will want to watch on to see what happens to her. Finally, one thing that my group and a classmate picked up on is that 'it is more thriller than horror'. We are still deciding whether to change to genre to just thriller but as for now the genre is thriller/horror.

Positive points from the audience feedback: 
There were many positive points that our classmates and teacher mentioned that we are very pleased with. Nearly everyone said that they loved the idea behind the opening sequence because it was original and unique. This was the most positive feedback we got as it backed up our ideas. One person quoted 'I really liked the idea of it because it is really original'. Although the sub-tiles for the Spanish voice over was a problem, many people said that they liked including it because it was different. Camera shots and enigma codes were also mentioned as being executed well. 'I liked the effects because it made it look disorientated' was a quote from the audience feedback and it was really helpful because we wanted to make it look disorientated so its nice to know we succeeded.

Genre Signifies: 
Throughout our opening sequence me and my group added many conventional elements that are commonly seen in thriller/horror films but also some unconventional elements... We added a Spanish voice over which indicates that the villain of the film will be foreign which is conventional of a thriller film. On the same subject of the voice over; it added an enigma code as what was being said was mysterious and didn't give away why he had kidnapped this girl and what is intentions are. Near the end of the opening sequence we changed the soundtrack from a smooth melody to a distorted heavy base. The audience will know it is a thriller/horror film because of this as it is jumpy, fast paced and distorted. We also added glitch sounds which is a harsh and fast sound that will make the audience jump; conventional of a horror film. Towards the end the colour black was present in every shot from the clothing the actress was wearing to the dark and gloomy lighting. This colour has connotations of death, fear and evilness with fear being the attribute we wanted the audience to feel as watching a horror film is always about being scared. The unconventional elements we used was the colours blue and white as these colours are too light and happy to be in  thriller/horror film with connotations of cleanliness, hope and purity. We decided to use these colours as it would reflect our storyline and would challenge the conventions you would normally see in a thriller/horror film thus creating a new sub-genre. We hope that the end of the opening sequence will be enough to define our genre.

Evaluation Question 4 - Target Audience

Age: 15-25

Gender: Male/Female

Social Demographic: Working Class/Middle Class

Occupation: Students/Retail Jobs

Audience Demographics:

Age: To determine what age rating to use for ‘Mute’, I used the Radio Join Audience Research which is the official body in charge of measuring radio audiences in the UK. We gave our film an age rating of 15-25 years old. This age band was the most suitable for our film and target audience as it will contain scenes that is appropriate for them to see. Also they will relate to the main character as she is around 18 years old. The content will excite and engage the audience; using enigma codes as the main source. The storyline is quite confusing and mysterious which will also stimulate the target audience as their minds are very similar.

Socio-Economic Group:
The social class of the audience demographic would be grace E-C2. This is because students and are around the age to be allowed to watch it and would go with their friends and also lower classes want escape from their lives so they watch a thriller/horror film to watch other people who are worse than them.

Gender:

 Our opening sequence would be for males and females but possibly mostly females. Males would watch this as its action packed and stars an actress who is young and pretty; introducing the male gaze theory to ‘Mute’. Females would watch it because they can relate to Hannah’s emotions and could look at Hannah as a role model.

Ethnicity:

The main ethnicity for our film would be white. This is for many reasons, firstly, the main character is white so white audience members can relate and feel more for her, secondly, the antagonist is foreign so other ethnicities might be put off because of this and thirdly, the film will be shown in countries like England and America which is highly populated with white people.

Audience Theory:

The Uses and Gratifications theory is a technique used to understand why people seek our various media content for different purposes. ‘Mute’ falls into a few categories in this theory from ‘Escape’ to ‘Be entertained’ and ‘Be educated or informed’. 

• Escape: because the story is quite confusing and unique, people might want to have a break from their boring lives and indulge in something more exciting. 
• Be entertained: in the 21st century a lot of people watch thriller/horror films for fun and because its funny to watch people getting killed; apparently. The film is action packed and filled with many gory and scary moments that should entertain people. 
• Be educated or informed: throughout this film the social issue of kidnapping and sex trafficking if touched upon and can inform people about the consequences and what actually happens to kidnaped children; they turn into 'bad Hannah'. 

Evaluation Question 3 - Distribution

Media Institutes – Distribution

A film distributer is a company or individual responsible for making a movie available for viewing by an audience. A professional film distributor would set the release date of when the film is available for viewing in theatres and/or home viewing (DVD, Blu-rays etc.).

 The film distributor is very important as their actions can either make a film a huge success or make it a total shamble. Film distributors control marketing an decide when, where and how a film is advertised, such as TV commercials, posters, billboards, on the internet, newspapers, special events (Comic-Con etc.), trailers (on the internet and in theatres) and many more. Advertising the film is very important as it makes it public knowledge and also gives the film a lot of media exposure; insuring that many people are interested and excited to go and watch it.

Another significant role film distributors have is to decisde how many theatres will screen the film, as well as the length of time. Depending on the success of the film, companies can maximise their revenue and the film gets lots of financial support which is crucial because the film doesn’t want to lose money, it wants to make money.

Films like ‘Avengers’, ‘Titanic’ and ‘Avatar’ are all box office hits and without a film distributor would have still succeeded because of the brilliant director, established actors and gripping story. However, it is vital that small and independent films get themselves a film distributor because they are less known in the film industry so will need lots more marketing and exposure in the media to succeed. The way most independent films get noticed by film distributors is by attending film festivals like ‘BFI London Film Festival’ and ‘Portobello Film Festival’ where they gain support, funding and media coverage for their film.

Warner Bros.

Warner Brothers is an American film studios which was established in 1923 by the four Warner Brothers, Albert, Harry, Sam and Jack. Over the course of 91 years their films have grossed over 12 billion dollars, making it the largest major film studio in the world. The WB Network was launched in 1995 by Warner and Tribune Media Comedy as an effort to seek niche market in teenagers in films and on television. The network commissioned popular shows like ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, ‘Smallville’, Dawson’s Creek’ and ‘One Tree Hill’; all with the hope to attract a new social group of teenagers. ‘7^Th Heaven’ and ‘Charmed’ become the channels most watched shows, with ‘Charmed’ running for an outstanding eight seasons; making it the longest running drama with female leads. Warner Brothers has a long history of distributing successful, box office hits; going for more mainstream films including ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘The Harry Potter Series’, ‘Inception’, ‘The Hangover Trilogy’, ‘Gravity’, ‘300’ and ‘Sherlock Holmes’.

This company is known for producing unusual and fiction films that attract both niche and mainstream audiences. ‘Mute’, being an unusual and fiction film, fits the criteria for Warner Bros. films and therefore be distributed, marketed and produced by them. A very popular film they have distributed is ‘The Dark Knight’ which its opening sequence is very similar to our opening sequence. The main similarity being the colour blue is present in the opening titles and a very similar technique to our opening sequence is used when the bat signal appears through the blue mist. The fast paced action in the rest of the sequence is similar to the ending of ours, as it puts the audience on the edge of their seats and makes them want to watch more. Roland Barthes theory of enigma codes was present in both films and were both the same narrative enigma. Both antagonists’ identity were kept a secret; the robbers wearing marks and the kidnapper not being shown, only heard. ‘Mute’ could follow in ‘The Dark Knights’ footsteps and make multiple films because of its similarities and ability to appeal to a wider target audience.

Here is the opening sequence to 'The Dark Knight': 

The Warner Bros. Logo is in all blue which is one of the main colours we used in our opening sequence. The logo can change depending on what film they are distributing.

This scene in the opening sequence for 'The Dark Knight' is very similar to the opening and ending of our opening sequence; using a blue mist to connote mystery and elegance. However, this shade of blue is darker than ours which juxtaposes with our storyline which is darker than 'The Dark Knight'. 

We chose to categories ‘Mute’ in the genres of thriller and horror which relates to some previous hits distributed by this company. Its unconventional attributes may prove a change to the conventional films of this genre

Evaluation Question 2 - Social Groups

M U T E - Social Group Representation

Evaluation Question 1 - Conventions

In order to make the best possible opening sequence, I had to research into the conventions of opening sequences from the credits, production company, narrative enigma and sound.

Production Logo Idea

To accompany our opening sequence we thought it would be a good idea to create our own production logo. We had the idea to have a hand slam on a window to scare the audience and make a big impact. The name 'glitch' was chosen as it as connotations of horror and thriller; distorted, fast paced and not natural. Here are some example stills of what we are looking for: Either 'Glitch Productions' or 'Glitch Studios'.

Filming - Day 3

After months of planning we finally got to the final day of filming. As previous filming went horribly wrong, we planned what we was going to do to the last frame! I made a filming schedule so that we know what we doing for the day:

Actors: 

Hannah Riley: 'Girl' 

Production: 

Directors: Megan Lawrence, Alice Percy & Blake Challenger

Photographer: Blake Challenger & Sam (Alice's Boyfriend) 

Today was the final time filming and it went really well. The filming schedule worked and it made the day more organised and productive. What we had planned to film was more simplistic and natural; which was what we was going for. The acting was far better as it wasn't forced or unprofessional. The production elements like costume, lighting and make-up were all done in a sophisticated way, being planned to the last eyelash! We used varied camera angled to make it more interesting for the audience and to get the best quality. In conclusion, the filming went perfectly and hopefully editing goes well too. 

Pictures:     

Hair & Make-up Idea

 At the beginning of the opening sequence her make-up will be very simplistic and natural to reflect her innocence and girly nature. Her hair will be curly, long and blonde as thats the conventional 'white little girl' look. Near the end she will change into a dysfunctional, dispersed girl and her hair and make-up will match that. We will slick her hair back to expose her face so the audience can see all her emotions and it makes her look powerful. Her eye-shadow will be dark and smoky with her blue eyes wide and enhanced. She will have red lipstick as her new persona will be very sexual and grown up as she has been through so much. Here are some examples of hair and make-up we want to use:

    Hannah At Beginning:                                                  Hannah At End:    

Costume Idea

After the disappointment of the second filming, we wanted to plan everything very precisely and we think that costume is very important as it can establish a characters mood, ideology and age. For the first outfit we wanted to use white, girly clothing as this connotes purity, innocents and cleanliness. We were going for the 'school girl' look as we wanted to make her look as young as possible so the impact of her being kidnapped was big. For the second outfit the colours we were going for are black and dark blues as these have connotations of death, a disturbed soul and also very lonely. She will look very grown-up; wearing high heels, skinny jeans and a black fur coat. Here's an example of what we want the costumes to look like:

Costume, Make-up & Hair

These elements are all important when filming an opening sequence as it can establish a character and define the genre.

HAIR & MAKE-UP: 

These images show the hair style we choose to give Hannah; curly and long. This connotes innocence and grace as the style is conventional for 'little white girls'. Her long hair connotes she has a long and fulling life but also connotes that she's natural and traditional. The colour difference in her hair could be foreshadowing her later change in character which adds enigma codes to the open in sequence; conventional of a horror film. Her make-up is very natural and feminine; using pinks and smoky red to just highlight her assets but not to overshadow them. The pink lips make her seem innocent and girly which is the opposite to the next make-up design. 

 The next design we chose was quite gothic and evil which contrasts with the previous design. The hair is slicked back to expose her face and make her look powerful but also vulnerable  as her character has been through so much. This time you can't see any of her blonde highlights in her hair which donnotes that she has changed for the worst and is damaged.





We used grey for her eye shadow as it is an emotionless, moody colour with connotation of vein dull, dirty and dingy. The lips are wine red which connotes sexual availability but also maturity as she has had to grow up very quickly. The colour red has connotations of blood and death with is conventional of a horror film. We loved how her eyes were blue which is her old and innocent self trying to leak out but is stopped by the dark and eerie eyeshadow.

COSTUME: 

The first costume we chose was all white. This colour connotes purity, grace, innocence. naturalism and cleanliness. We wanted to make her look as young as possible so we chose a tennis skirt as it resembles a school girls shirt. The converse pumps are versatile and the red lining on the bottom of them foreshadows a bloody and dark future. This outfit is for when Hannah's character is happy at the beginning of the sequence. 

The second outfit consists of black and dark blue. These colours connotes death, a dark soul, an unstable life and also mystery. The skinny jeans show off her curves which donnotes that she is more sexual and available. They are also more grown up than the previous outfit so it tells the audience that she has been imprisoned for a long time. The high heels also emphasises her sexuality and the way her shows are pointing inwards makes her look rough and dazed. The fur coat is associated with evil characters like Cruella DeVil.